Arsenal's 1-0 victory over Steaua Bucharest in the Romanian capital last night stretched their unbeaten run this season to 12 matches and made it 19 since their last defeat on 7th April.
It was their ninth consecutive victory, and manager Arsene Wenger wants them to be inspired by and try to emulate his 'Invincibles' team of 2003-04 who did not a single game in the League.
Wenger said after Robin Van Persie's 76th minute goal had clinched their latest victory in the unfamiliar surroundings of Bucharest: “The challenge is to become like that team of four seasons ago. We now have nine straight wins and that tells you something about the focus of the players.
“It was not the most glamorous game they will ever play but overall they were very hungry.
“Now we have to see how long we can extend this run. We can try to be inspired by the kind of consistency we showed in 2004. Right now it is too early to compare. We went 49 games, there is still a huge difference. So let’s go step by step.”
Wenger was delighted with his players' efforts, and thought they should have won by a wider margin.
Van Persie was denied what looked like a clear penalty early on, and shortly before half-time a deflected Gael Clichy cross looked is if it crossed the line before it was cleared by Steaua keeper Zapata.
Wenger said: “The penalty looked obvious to me and even Romanian TV said that the ball had crossed the line.
“It was an unbelievable decision and one more call for video technology to be introduced.”
